Lay facilitators as effective smoking cessation counselors.

The present study assessed the relative effectiveness of doctoral counseling students and lay facilitators in conducting smoking cessation programs. Subjects (55 women and 61 men) were randomly assigned to doctoral or to lay facilitators. Consistent with prediction, lay facilitators were at least as effective as doctoral students. Overall results were comparable to those obtained in previous work in this laboratory. Allowing a choice of preparation technique may in itself enhance treatment outcome. The ability of lay facilitators to achieve clinically effective results provides further support for the generalizability of treatment to community settings.